Hawking's PhD thesis released for free online

The thesis has now become available to view online. Image Credit: NASA

The world-famous physicist hopes that his doctorate will encourage people to 'look up at the stars'.

Featuring Hawking's actual handwritten signature and penned when he was a postgraduate student in Cambridge at the tender age of 24, the paper is by far the most popular in the university's system.

By releasing it online to everyone, it is hoped that it will not only offer an insight in to the mind of the world's most famous living scientist, but will also help inspire a whole new generation of physicists.

"By making my PhD thesis Open Access, I hope to inspire people around the world to look up at the stars and not down at their feet; to wonder about our place in the universe and to try and make sense of the cosmos," said Hawking.

"Anyone, anywhere in the world should have free, unhindered access to not just my research, but to the research of every great and enquiring mind across the spectrum of human understanding."

"Each generation stands on the shoulders of those who have gone before them, just as I did as a young PhD student in Cambridge, inspired by the work of Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell and Albert Einstein. It's wonderful to hear how many people have already shown an interest in downloading my thesis."

"Hopefully they won't be disappointed now that they finally have access to it !"

Hawking's thesis can be found on the University of Cambridge's online system - here.